Save the world – but nick a bit of it for yourself

If you have ever felt the urge to mug an old lady after buying a package of eco-friendly soap powder, you may not be alone.

According to social science publisher Sage’s most downloaded article of 2009-10, going “green” boosts our tendency to lie and steal.

The article, “Do green products make us better people?”, was published in the Sage journal Psychological Science. It describes a series of experiments devised by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, both assistant professors in the University of Toronto’s School of Management.